A Lil' Choo Choo

As much as it freaks me out to do any type of mural type painting, I did it last week. I am always so relieved when it is over. I am not an artist, by any means. This is bedding made by Pottery Barn. So cute... They also had shutters put in and bought new furniture from Pottery Barn as well. Pretty simple room, but works well for this clients taste.

Happy 32!

Happy Birthday to the best man and dad I know, and I know a few! Seriously...The kids and I set out this morning to find their dad the perfect gifts. They were really excited about it and took a lot of time and thought into buying him things that he would love. Dylan spent his own money to buy him a Wii game, that Dylan has also been enjoying since 7 pm last night when Steve unwrapped it. Very cute.

Happy Thirty-Two! 32 things that I love about you:

1. Your nature to live life and learn new things. Then once you decide to learn it, you could major in it. Like cooking or physical fitness.

2. You are a man of habit. You wake up each day at the same time (before the dawn cracks), even if you went to bed at 2 am. And don't forget to brush those pearly whites. It doesn't matter if he has already fallen asleep. If he forgets, he will roll and of bed and go do it. My Steve is a machine.

3. Proud Metro Sexual who would never deny a free mani or massage and is the creator of the "sparkle kit" at work which consists of razors, deodorant, body spray, and so forth for those who do not property groom before they come to the office.

4. No matter how tired he is, always has energy for his kids. When mom is tuckered, after prayer, I will send them off to bed to fend for themselves. Not my Steve, he goes up there with them every night to tuck them in.

5. Loves vacations, especially Disney world. Doesn't care about most material things, but wouldn't want to give up a chance of having a good time with the ones he loves.

6. Works out 6 days a week, even on vacation. You should see his abs. Holy Crap.

7. Meets people and actually remembers their name. I mean everyone! It is crazy, not sure how he does that.

8. He gets the student discount at the movie theatres, which totally rocks. I guess he still looks as young as a student...but actually he is getting grey hairs and crows feet which I find totally hot.

9. Is like the most detail oriented person I know. He can not go anywhere without criticising how a business is ran and what he would do to fix it. He was a like born into management.

10. When I just want a good fight and push every button I can to achieve one, he will sense what I am doing and not let me do it. Which at the time, really annoys me, but I realize it is all for the better when we don't fight.

11. If he doesn't understand something about me, he will do what he needs to do to understand. Even if it requires him reading the Twilight series. He wanted to know what was so fascinating about this Edward dude.

12. Alway tells me how pretty I am, even when I am not lookin my best.

13. Lets me paint and repaint our house as I find it necessary without putting up too much of a fight. To me, painting and repainting, is no different than "rinse and repeat".

14. Is very logical and can think through life situations to make them make sense.

15. Loves to serve and doesn't complain when doing so.

16. He has flowers planted in front of old ladies apartments to ensure that they enjoy their apartment home, since this is the place where they could expire. Very sweet.

17. Only buys top of the line hair products and shoes.

18. Is a saver, not a spender; unless it comes to hair products, shoes, cars, and vacation...

19. Still has NIN downloaded on him Ipod, which when a song comes on, he skips it, but he wouldn't want to disrespect Trent Reznor by not having him on there at all.

20. Has many career goals, including buying property in Maui and opening up like 9 franchises. I said they were goals, not reality.

21. Repeats things vebatum from movies all the time. Which makes me giggle in any situation.

22. Supports me working, but would be happy to downsize and simplifiy for me to stay home, which he finds equally if not MORE important than me making the green stuff.

23. Never complains that, lets face it, I may not be as physically fit as he.

24. If someone is having a grumpy day, say the worker in the toll booth, he will smile and talk to them until they are smiling. It is uncomforably fun to watch their reaction as the whole thing goes down, like why is this guy talking to me about how nice the weather is and my great hair? Then before they know it they are sucked into his master plan of smiling on the job, like they are supposed to be doing.

25. Always stands for what is morally right, no matter how the world sees it "idealism", and he has no shame in doing so. He is proud and firm in his beliefs and values.

26. He lets me pick at any flaw that I might find on his face, even though he knows that I just make it worse, but he also knows how much I enjoy it. Then when he doesn't have a flaw, he has the back up of whats called a pre-erricular sinus by his ear which can always be drained of something. Yeah, you may not find this sexy, but when I saw this thing, I knew he was my eternal partner.

27. Is the creator of "Pancake Saturdays" and Saturday bike rides. Yes, Addison has been cracking eggs to make those pancakes on Saturday since she was like 2. That girl can even do it one-handed.

28. Has a perfect smile with the cutest dimples ever!

29. Is only slightly annoyed that I am spending his day off blogging. (he doesn't know what about yet...he will forgive me.)

30. When he sees old couples together, he always gets a little touched and unknowingly squeezes my hand, like "that will be us honey". He is very sentimental.

31. Has spent almost 1/2 his life with me, which is he should be given a medal for. Crazy when you think of it. He is my best friend and I wouldn't want to be here without him.

32. The fact that on his 100th birthday, I will be able to still think of 100 new reasons why I love this man. For those who know him well, I know they so get it. Happy Birthday honey.

The Pallette of Fall

An old client of mine called me on Thursday and said they were moving back to Austin from Oregon. She wanted to know if I could paint her whole house before they got here (baseboards and all), which gave me about 3 1/2 days. I hestitated for a moment, but then agreed. This is what I have been asking for, right? Paint jobs instead of decorating. It was nice to just show up and paint my heart out without having to run around the city shopping for people.

She had chosen "Applesauce Cake" by Behr for the majority of the house, but wanted to accent the front room with a rusted orange color. I think it turned out really well, especially with her tile. Super warm, kind of like Fall Leaves.

Our Patio

I have been wanting to tile our back patio since we moved in. There is just nothing relaxing about going out and sitting on a cement slab. Our eventual plan is to extend the patio all the way around the back of our house and build in a grill/fireplace area. "Dream a little Dream", right? But for now, this will have to work. This is not a job for the faint of heart, or lil' prissy girls, I am telling you what. My hands are in serious need of a manicure, they feel like sandpaper, and my knees, holy crap, bruised and ugly. Worth it though, don't you think?

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:
AFTER:BEFORE:
AFTER:MORE AFTER:
A LITTLE MORE:

$200, are you sure?

I have a great client that lives in this beautiful house in Shady Hollow. Love her. I emailed out my "summer special" at the beginning of the summer - $200 any room in your house. Basically I did this because I am needing some easy jobs that are not decorating jobs. Holy crap, those will be the death of me one day. Anyhow, because gas is so much, I thought, why not just run a $200 flat fee and save myself the gas on the bid?

When I realized that it was just a bathroom, I considered bringing the price down a smidge. But my client said, "Are you sure you want to do that? This it a hard bathroom to paint."- and she was right. Holy smokes I am sore today. That was an awesome work out, for reals. See those shelfy spots above? Yeah, you can't reach that with a ladder. I had to crawl up in there and reach. I had paint all over my hair when I got home.

She complained that the original color shes chose looked like poop. So we changed it up and used my favorite color, Oyster Bay (sherwin williams). This is the "please all" color of the year. Love it.

Build a Bear (or child)

Yesterday we went to San Antonio to take Steve's dad to dinner for his birthday. Michaela has been there since Saturday and has fun shopping with Grandma, totally getting spoiled. She took her to build a bear and found this cute wig that reminded them of Addison's hair. They bought it for Addison's bear, but apparently it is multifunctional. Who would have thought. And the scary thing is that is looks pretty natural on my kids cuz of their coloring. Doesn't Dylan look cute a s a girl? We really need to get that boy in some sports, and quick!

The Day of Independence

We had a great 4th of July! We headed out to lake LBJ with the Hacks. I didn't take a lot of pictures, because we were out in the water, as we should be. We took the wave runner and had a blast towing the girls around. Steph is dangerous though, you gotta watch out for her. She loves to 4 wheel off road, and apparently jump waves in her Wave runner. Addison and the girls took some major air a couple times. It was funny. It looked like Addison was laughing, but later I found out that she was crying. She got over it really quick though. It's that thrill seeking mentality! For reals.

Addison, 4th of July night...
Miss Michaela, all pimped out in her 4th gear. That is exactly how I used to be. Oh crap, sorry dear, I think it may be genetic...
Mr Dylan, simple as ever... Lance and Steve lighting our illegal fireworks. Check out the nice red sock and flip flops on Steve. That is awesome...

Our illegal fireworks, the last one. Oh yeah, we didn't mess around. A few of these were like 40 feet in the air. Luckily no fires or police. Happy 4th of July, afterall, it is the day of independence, right?

At the Lake...

We went to the lake for one of Steve's work functions. Every year they do a barbeque and awards ceremony out at the lake and invite the families. So fun for us, right? We get to listen to all the awards and stuff that people win. Steve got his 9 year award this go around. He has been with this company for 9 years! That is like 1/3 of his life. Way to go!

Down by the dock..

Me and the Dylster...
Agh, there's my house, see it?
Can you still do this? I look like a total freak...and pregnant, which thankfully I am not. Those baby doll shirt do not make us look like little dolls or babies. That is such false advertising. I should really reconsider this as part of my wardrode. Not even kidding a little.
Aren't they just precious. This picture, where they are looking so sweet, makes me want to pull a Steph and go push them in unexpectantly. That would be funny.

Summer Catch Up

Seriously, it has been crazy busy here at the Fuller household. I have so much catching up to do. Here are some pics of our first trip to Six Flags this summer. Dylan got to take Chase with him, get a little "boy time" in, and the girls had Andelynn and Alyssa with them. It was a ton of fun. Addison is quite the little thrill seeker! Who would have guessed? She has no fear at all and will go on absolutely any ride that she is permitted due to height requirements. Dang, you never know what these kids are going to become...

What's up Doc?

Tea Cups, those things make me sick to even look at. Gag! Is it true with age that you can no longer handle stuff like this? Holy Crap, I sure get sick.
Andelynn and Michaela...Tony Hawks big spin.
Dylan and the Chaser...
Sexy Scooby Doo, where are you?

Happy Birthday To ME!

Need I say more?